Briggs v. Walker

by Horace Gray

United States Supreme Court

171 U.S. 466

Briggs  v.  Walker

The controversy in this case was between the executor and two creditors of Charles M. Briggs, and arose as follows:

On April 18, 1862, during the war of the Rebellinon, Charles S. Morehead, of Kentucky, executed and delivered to his nephew, Charles M. Briggs, a bill of sale of cotton in Mississippi, in these terms:

'For and in consideration of money loaned and advanced heretofore by C. M. Briggs, and further valuable consideration by way of suretyship for me by said Briggs, I hereby sell and transfer to said C. M. Briggs all the cotton on my two plantations in Mississippi, near Eggspoint and Greenville. Said cotton so sold embraces all I have, baled and unbaled, gathered and ungathered. This is intended to cover all cotton that I have now or may have this year on said two plantations, supposed to be about 2,000 bales.'

At the same time Briggs executed and delivered to Samuel J. Walker, Morehead's sonin-law, a writing in these terms:

'In consideration of the sale and transfer this day made to me by C. S. Morehead of all the cotton on his two plantations near Eggspoint, in the state of Mississippi, as specified in said sale and transfer in writing, I hereby assume and agree to pay to Samuel J. Walker the sum of forty thousand dollars, due and owing to said Walker by said C. S. Morehead, upon condition, however, that I realize sufficient amount from any cotton on or from said plantations or proceeds of same, together with about twenty-five thousand dollars due me from said C. S. Morehead for moneys advanced and liability for him as surety; also about ten thousand dollars, more or less, being a claim of A. S. Shotwell as he may hereafter establish against said C. S. Morehead; but, in case I should not realize sufficient to pay all of said claims or amounts above named in full, then I am to pay or divide the amount that may be realized from said cotton, proportionately or pro rata according to the respective amounts named, to the parties above named, first, however, paying and refunding any moneys paid by the respective parties for or on account of expenses pertaining to same; and, in case more should be realized than sufficient to pay said amounts, with interest thereon to the time of realization and payment, then any surplus to be divided, one-half to said Shotwell and C. M. Briggs jointly for any services, and the remaining one-half to said Samuel J. Walker; but no other consideration to be paid to said Shotwell and Briggs for their service.'

Briggs at once took steps to get possession of the cotton, but was prevented by the Federal forces and the Confederate forces in the vicinity. This cotton, amounting to 450 bales, was finally seized, together with other cotton, by Capt. G. L. Fort, assistant quartermaster general in the United States army, in behalf of the United States, and was by him sold, and the proceeds paid into the treasury of the United States. Briggs died in 1875, after repeated and unsuccessful efforts, through his attorneys, to obtain the proceeds of the cotton in question; and his executor continued the efforts, and, through the same attorneys, procured the passage of the act of congress of June 4, 1888, c. 348, copied in the margin. ^[1]

Under the provisions of that act, Briggs' executor brought suit in the court of claims, and therein recovered the sum of $88,000. See Briggs v. U.S., 25 Ct. Cl. 126; 143 U.S. 346, 12 Sup. Ct. 391; 27 Ct. Cl. 564. Half of that sum was paid to the attorneys, pursuant to a contract between them and Briggs; and the rest, being the sum of $44,000, came to the hands of the executor.

Thereupon the executor, in a suit previously

To these petitions the executor of Briggs filed supplemental answers, in which, among other things, he set up the act of congress of June, 4, 1888, and the proceedings in the court of claims; and alleged that 'in pursuance to the said act this defendant, through his said counsel, instituted an action against the United States in the court of claims to recover the proceeds of sale of the cotton aforesaid, and in and by said action it was finally determined and adjudged that the said testator was loyal to the United States, and that the assignment made by said Morehead to defendant's testator was bona fide, and founded on a valuable consideration; but this defendant was, by the act aforesaid, as well as the final judgment of the court of claims, limited in his recovery to such sum as would satisfy the debts and claims of his testator, to secure which the said assignment was given; and this defendant says that by the final judgment of said court of claims he only received and recovered from the United States such sum as was owing directly to his testator by said Morehead, and did not recover anything whatsoever for or on account of anything that may have been owing by said Morehead to A. L. Shotwell or Samuel J. Walker'; and further alleged that 'the passage of the act aforesaid was an act of grace on the part of the United States for the sole benefit of this defendant, and to permit this defendant to assert a claim against the proceeds of said cotton to the extent that said Morehead was indebted to his testator; that long prior thereto all claim that had existed in favor of said testator as against the United States for any part of the proceeds of said cotton had been barred by limitation, and said claim was outlawed and worthless'; and that 'it was not intended by said act that this defendant should recover anything for the benefit, directly or indirectly, of any other person.'

The circuit court of Jefferson county sustained demurrers of the petitioners to the supplemental answers of the executor, and upon a hearing found that there was due to Walker $44,000, in the hands of the executor, after deducting his commissions, be applied pro rata to the payment of these two sums, and of the further sum of $25,000 due from Morehead to Briggs. The executor appealed to the court of appeals of Kentucky, which affirmed the judgment. 43 S. W. 479. Thereupon he sued out this writ of error.

The case was submitted to this court upon a motion by the defendants in error to dismiss the writ of error for want of jurisdiction, or to affirm the judgment.

Wm. Stone Abert, Charles H. Gibson, John Marshall, and D. W. Sanders, for plaintiff in error.

J. P. Helm, Helm Bruce, and Samuel B. Vance, for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

Notes

1. An Act for the Relief of the Estate of C. M. Briggs, Deceased.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, that the court of claims is hereby given, subject to the proviso hereinafter mentioned, like jurisdiction to hear and determine the claim of the legal representatives of C. M. Briggs, deceased, for the proceeds of four hundred and fifty-five bales of cotton, now in the treasury of the United States, alleged to have been owned, in whole or in part, by said Briggs, as is given to said court by the acts of March twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, upon petition to be filed in said court at any time within two years from the passage of this act, any statute of limitations to the contrary notwithstanding: provided, however, that unless the said court shall, on a preliminary inquiry, find that said Briggs was in fact loyal to the United States government, and that the assignment to him hereinafter mentioned was bona fide, the court shall not have jurisdiction of the case, and the same shall, without further proceedings, be dismissed; and provided further, that if the court shall find that the alleged assignment from one Morehead to said Briggs, of date April eighteenth, eighteen

hundred and sixty-two, under which said Briggs claimed said cotton, was intended only as security to said Briggs for indebtedness, and against contingent liabilities assumed by him for said Morehead, judgment shall be rendered for such portion of the proceeds of said cotton as will satisfy the debts and claims of said Briggs to secure which said assignment was given provided, said judgment shall not be paid out of the general fund in the treasury arising from the sale of captured and abandoned property, but shall be paid out of the special fund charged to and accounted for by Captain G. L. Fort, assistant quartermaster at Memphis, arising from the sale of the two by Captain G. L. Fort, assistant quartermaster at Memphis, arising from the sale of the two thousand two hundred and nine bales of cotton, received by him, with which claimant's cotton was intermingled, said claimant to receive only the proportion which his cotton bears to the net proceeds accounted for by said Fort. 25 Stat. 1075.